PORT ANGELES — Members of the North Olympic Library System Board expect to interview the lone candidate for the system's executive director position during a closed executive session when they meet during a special meeting Thursday.

The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.

The system oversees the Port Angeles, Sequim, Clallam Bay and Forks public libraries.

Current Executive Director Paula Barnes, who will retire this summer, said library board members reached consensus on draft interview questions at a special board meeting last Thursday and will refine them before they conduct their interview this Thursday.

Barnes said it's “not out of the question” for the interview to take between 90 minutes and two hours.

Don Zanon, chair of the library board, said one candidate who currently works for the library system, whom Zanon declined to name, has applied for the director job and will be interviewed Thursday.

“We approach it with a sense of responsibility for the community and making sure our public library is an effective resource in the community,” he said.

Internal posting only

Zanon said only an internal posting of the executive director opening has been made.

Barnes said it is library system policy to post job openings internally first before posting outside of the system.

Barnes said she could not predict when the board would vote on a contract agreement with a candidate, although she said it has reserved time for a vote during the board's regular March 27 meeting.

The vote would be taken during open session, Barnes added.

Barnes, who will not sit in on the candidate interview, said the questions will focus on such areas as library system strategic planning, accounting and staff development.

The role of technology in the system's operations also will likely be a main topic, Barnes said.

“I think there were some questions along those lines when I interviewed, and I think it's become a higher priority,” Barnes said.

In her nearly seven years as director, Barnes oversaw the expansion or renovation of all the system's branches and a 2010 campaign to increase the system's tax levy to combat declining revenues.